Partnership approach brings hope to families in El Salvador

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — In a poor, densely populated country like El Salvador, it will always be difficult to ensure that everybody has at least basic accommodation. But the civil war of the 1980s, followed over the next decade or so by a series of natural disasters, left the country poverty-stricken and facing a particularly serious housing problem.

Plight

El Salvador’s plight has not gone unnoticed by the international community, however. Among those working to tackle the housing shortage is Habitat for Humanity, a non-profit, Christian housing organisation which, since its creation in 1976, has constructed more than 175,000 modest homes worldwide for more than 900,000 people living on low incomes. Through a network of over 2,000 affiliates, all aspects of construction, including fundraising and selecting suitable families, are co-ordinated locally. The families themselves also play an active role in the process, being expected to make a down payment and then undertake some of the construction work. What they gain through their labours is something they would probably never have believed possible: a decent home financed with an affordable loan.

In El Salvador itself, nearly 3,000 families have benefited from a significant improvement in their living conditions as a result of Habitat for Humanity’s work since 1992. Each home, made from fired clay bricks or concrete blocks, is designed to withstand natural disasters such as the earthquake which devastated the country in January 2001 (see Latest News #125). However, it is not only the physical well-being of these families that the organisation is concerned with: indeed, it emphasises that “when we build a house we do it trusting that by doing so we are giving a testimony, doing with actions what we confess with our mouths by preaching the Word of God.”

‘Lightning construction’

One practical way in which Habitat for Humanity spreads God’s Word is by ensuring that, along with the keys to their new home, each family also receives a Bible. This aspect of its work is supported by the Bible Society of El Salvador, which, during three special annual ‘lightning construction’ weeks, matches each Bible purchased by the organisation with a free one.

“The Bible Society does not build houses and we do not make Bibles,” says Habitat for Humanity, “but by working in partnership we are bringing hope to more families.”

These families include that of Caridad Esperanza Sanchez, a single mother from Cuyultitan. Her family is one of 220 living in the southern state of La Paz which had been given a new home by the beginning of 2004.

“It was at a neighbourhood meeting with Habitat that we found out that we had been selected to build our home,” she recalls. “We felt an enormous amount of excitement when they announced that our house would be built. Our previous house had been destroyed in the earthquake and we had not received any kind of support to rebuild it.

“This was a wonderful opportunity because the monthly payments were low and a lot of people would help to build our home. As soon as I began to work with Habitat, I felt that I could trust the organisation. I didn’t doubt that I would have my own home one day.

“I work as a cleaner to meet my family’s needs. I always found it hard to plan for the future, but now I am not afraid that my children will get wet from the rain or get sick. Now we have a house made of concrete blocks and it is beautiful.

Involved